The present invention relates to a baling machine for forming cylindrical bales of crop.
Machines, towed by a tractor, for forming large cylindrical bales of hay (so called "round balers") are well-known. As the machine advances, the crop is removed from a windrow by a pickup mechanism and delivered rearwardly to a baling chamber where it is rolled into a bale between oppositely moving belt runs, the growing bale rotating about a horizontal axis and the baling chamber expanding with the bale. The belts are trained over rolls which extend laterally of the machine. Some of these rolls are mounted on a pivoted arm at either side of the machine which swings and thereby accommodates the increasing size of the bale by reducing the take-up of the belts.
In one type of round baler currently marketed, in order to produce a dense bale the arm is loaded against its swinging movement by a piston and cylinder unit which is also connected to the gate for loading it against opening during baling and for opening it on completion of a bale. A uniformly dense bale is normally required.
However, in some conditions of harvesting the hay cannot be dried sufficiently before baling, and then it is desirable to produce a bale which has a "soft" core and a high density outer shell. To achieve this the hydraulic pressure in the piston and cylinder unit could be reduced to lessen the load on the pivoted take-up roll arm, but the unit would then not perform its second function of preventing opening of the gate during baling.